nextauthjs/next-auth · error · AuthError

Error creating or finding account

Error message

Error creating or finding account

What it means

AuthError('Error creating or finding account') is a defensive guard thrown when, after adapter linkAccount/getAccount operations, the account is still null. The comment in source states it is 'mostly for type checking' — under normal operation the adapter layer guarantees an account exists, so hitting it indicates an adapter returned null where the type system assumed it could not.

Solutions

1. Verify the adapter's createAccount/getAccount return the account object and never resolve null on success
2. Update or replace the custom adapter with an official one matching your @auth/core major version
3. Check adapter/database logs for swallowed errors (constraint violations, connection failures) during account creation
4. Enable Auth.js debug logging (logger debug level) to trace which adapter call returned null

Example fix

// before (custom adapter)
async createAccount(account) { await db.accounts.insert(account) }
// after
async createAccount(account) {
  const created = await db.accounts.insert(account)
  if (!created) throw new Error("Failed to create account")
  return created
}

// ensure an official, version-matched adapter is configured
if (!options.adapter?.createAccount) {
  throw new Error("Adapter is missing createAccount implementation")
}

function hasAccount(a: unknown): a is NonNullable<AdapterAccount> {
  return !!a && typeof a === "object" && "providerAccountId" in a
}

try {
  await signIn("webauthn", { ... })
} catch (e) {
  if ((e as Error).message === "Error creating or finding account") {
    // adapter returned null — inspect adapter/database logs
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: A custom/broken adapter's createAccount or getAccount implementation returns null or undefined instead of the created account; adapter misconfiguration on the webauthn/callback path where account persistence silently fails.

Common situations: Custom or community adapters that don't honor the Adapter contract; a database outage or constraint violation swallowed by the adapter so it returns null; using an adapter version incompatible with the @auth/core version in use.

Related errors

• An adapter is required for the WebAuthn provider
• Authenticator not created
• credential id is required
• Failed to update authenticator counter. This may cause…
• Unable to update authenticator with credential

AI-assisted analysis of nextauthjs/next-auth@a1a16a5a77 (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2ec2497157bd6c55. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at packages/core/src/lib/actions/callback/index.ts:450

      // Check if user is allowed to sign in
      await handleAuthorized({ user, account }, options)

      // Sign user in, creating them and their account if needed
      const {
        user: loggedInUser,
        isNewUser,
        session,
        account: currentAccount,
      } = await handleLoginOrRegister(
        sessionStore.value,
        user,
        account,
        options
      )

      if (!currentAccount) {
        // This is mostly for type checking. It should never actually happen.
        throw new AuthError("Error creating or finding account")
      }

      // Create new authenticator if needed
      if (authenticator && loggedInUser.id) {
        await localOptions.adapter.createAuthenticator({
          ...authenticator,
          userId: loggedInUser.id,
        })
      }

      // Do the session registering dance
      if (useJwtSession) {
        const defaultToken = {
          name: loggedInUser.name,
          email: loggedInUser.email,
          picture: loggedInUser.image,
          sub: loggedInUser.id?.toString(),
        }

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